Book Reviews

The Bob Dylan Companion: Four Decades of Commentary
by Carl Benson
Schirmer Books ISBN 0-02-864931-1 (1998)

I hope this book is part of a trend. Artists as productive and challenging as Dylan have provoked thoughtful and interesting criticism that should be collected both to help the listener understand the artist and to help them understand the history of the artist's reception. This volume collects a wealth of critical essays on Dylan from virtually every stage of his career, including articles by Izzy Young, Larry Yudelson, Robert Hillburnn, and Nat Hentoff. There are a few noticeable absences, including Greil Marcus, the inclusion of whom might have made for more interesting comparisons among the styles and politics of the reviewers, but this volume does cover a lot of ground. Benson has organized the book both thematically and chronologically. I would have preferred a straight chronological order, but this structure works quite well. This is a fine and insightful book that I hope signifies a greater social willingness to pay attention to what artists and their listeners have to say about the music.

— Char R. Leslie-Miller (Baltimore, MD)

300 Fiddle Tunes
by Ken Warfield
Centerstream/Hal Leonard HL00000235 (1998), ISBN 1-57424-056-0, $9.95, book

This compilation of fiddle tunes is a book at cross-purposes. In many ways, it appears to be an introduction to a basic fiddling repertoire centered on Irish tunes with a sprinkling of Scottish and old-time tunes thrown in. A one-page foreword gives a thumbnail sketch of fiddling in the American South. Sections devoted to each type of tune are headed with brief paragraphs describing the form and little portraits of fiddlers (condensed from other secondary sources) are scattered here and there. The tunes include a mix of the requisite session favorites and any number of tunes that I do not recall having heard about elsewhere. However, the beginner will be poorly served by the lack of any references to recorded sources for the tunes. Anyone trying to learn to fiddle needs something more like The Fiddler's Fakebook, which matches specific settings of tunes to particular recordings so the fiddler can compare the printed tune to the aural tune. More advanced fiddlers and novices alike will regret that the tunes have no annotation of any kind — no indication of composer, source, nationality, or anything. There may have been a day when a throw-together collection like this would have satisfied many appetites, and it may yet whet some, but in light of some of the fine collections of fiddle tunes that have been published just in the last five years, 300 Fiddle Tunes does not measure up to current standards.

— Bruce E. Baker (Goose Creek, SC)

Give the Ballot to the Mothers: Songs of the Suffragists
by Francie Wolff
Den linger's ISBN 0-87714-191-6 (1998); includes 28 min. video documentary

It seems that especially in America, it is difficult to have much of a social movement unless it's accompanied by song. This was certainly the case for the American Woman Suffrage Movement from 1848 to 1920, and this informative video and book bring to life some of the songs that encouraged, inspired, and also criticized the movement. Like other examples of movement culture, the songs of the suffragists tended to be modeled after the music popular with the individuals involved in the movement. Since those individuals in this instance tended to be white and middle-class, most of the songs are versions of popular parlor songs of the day. Some religious models were used. This book, the first to bring together the lyrics and music of these songs, reproduces many of the sheet music covers as well, conveying valuable information in the imagery used to accompany the music. Each song is carefully documented and discussed. The video documentary has solid (if not inspired) production values and tells a fascinating story, complete with some good performances of these songs. The combined package would make a fantastic teaching tool and deserves wide distribution and recognition.

— Bruce E. Baker (Goose Creek, SC)